Yami Gautam and Pulkit Samrat‘s kiss rises temperature in Shimla!

The villagers in Kalpa, near Shimla, got to see some live action when they observed the lead actors, Yami Gautam and Pulkit Samrat, shooting a kissing scene. Divya Khosla Kumar, who dons director’s hat once more after delivering her debut hit, Yaariyan last year, tells, “The place where we were shooting Kalpa, is eight hours away from Shimla and there are no theatres in that area. The climate was minus 10 degrees and it was extremely cold. My crew, who all are from Mumbai, had a tough time shooting there for few days as we are not habitual to such cold climate.”

“The place was covered with snow and was looking beautiful, an ideal location to shoot such a scene. The curious people from the frozen village gathered around our shooting location and started to watch us shoot the kissing scene between Pulkit and Yami. They were quietly looking with curious expressions on their faces while some women were smirking with amazement,” further adds Mrs Kumar.

It was freezing and was next to impossible to shoot in the cold. Divya tells, “Pulkit and Yami were shivering while shooting and were constantly given hot drinks and warm shelters at regular intervals. I’m glad that we managed to shoot the scene without any disturbance and hurdles. It has been shot aesthetically with a beautiful background.”

Bappi Lahiri finds AIB Roast against Indian Culture!

Most of Bollywood has supported AIB and their controversial roast video featuring Karan Johar Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor. While there are murmurs that SRK, Salman and Anil Kapoor found the roast offensive, not a single known name from the industry has gone on record to state so in public. But one man have the guts to come out in open with his honest point of view, Bappi Lahiri. While others in Hindi film industry have been trying to escape the contentious AIB question, the veteran music composer didn’t flinch when asked to give an opinion about the same.

Bappida told, “I will agree that whatever happened was against Indian culture. We are in India and not America. Our culture is way different from theirs. In our culture, we are taught to respect elders, our parents and women. Whatever happened was surely shameful.”

Without taking any names Bappida told that he would never ever agree to be a part of something as offensive and vulgar. “I will never be a part of anything like this. The youth especially kids are impressionable and I wouldn’t want to do anything that would set a wrong example. Everyone should respect our great culture. If we ourselves don’t respect it, then who else will?”

The singer-musician is presently busy nurturing talent from the slums of Mumbai. His initiative called Slum Stars has slum kids singing for his new album. Calling them the future superstars Bappi told there is a need to tap into the immense potential in slum kids and which often remains untapped.

Film Honour Killing's director Avtar Bhogal interview with Rashmi Sharma!

Film Honour Killing's director Avtar Bhogal interview with Rashmi Sharma!

Films Box Office for the latest week!

Box Office for the latest week -  10th February, 2015

1. Shamitabh

Star Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Dhanush, Akshara Haasan
Director:  R. Balki
Release date: 6th February 2015

Opening week: Rs: 13,00,00,000
Lifetime: Rs: 13,00,00,000

2. Hawaizaada

Star Cast: Ayushmann Khurrana, Pallavi Sharda, Mithun Chakraborty, Naman Jain
Director:  Vibhu Puri
Release date: 30th January 2015

Opening week: Rs: 2,00,00,000
Lifetime: Rs: 2,00,00,000

3. Khamoshiyan

Star Cast: Gurmeet Choudhary, Sapna Pubbi, Ali Fazal
Director:  Karan Darra
Release date: 30th January 2015

Opening week: Rs: 7,00,00,000
Lifetime: Rs: 7,00,00,000

4. Baby

Star Cast: Akshay Kumar, Taapsee Pannu, Rana Daggubati, Danny Denzongpa, Anupam Kher, Madhurima Tuli, Rashid Naz, Kay Kay Menon
Director:  Neeraj Pandey
Release date: 23rd January 2015

Opening week: Rs: 63,82,00,000
Lifetime: Rs: 76,47,00,000

5. Dolly Ki Doli

Star Cast: Sonam Kapoor, Rajkummar Rao, Pulkit Samrat, Varun Sharma
Director:  Abhishek Dogra
Release date: 23rd January 2015

Opening week: Rs: 18,66,00,000
Lifetime: Rs: 18,66,00,000

6. Alone

Star Cast: Karan Singh Grover, Bipasha Basu, Zakir Hussain
Director:  Bhushan Patel
Release date: 16th January 2015

Opening week: Rs: 22,00,00,000
Lifetime: Rs: 22,00,00,000

Film Hawaizaada is praiseworthy to watch once for director’s noble effort | Film Review

Exceptional, but lengthy about flying and freedom, the Bollywood film “Hawaizaada,” directed by Vibhu Virender Puri, spins legend into more legend. The year is 1895, and the setting is Bombay. The story concerns a quest by two Indians to build an airplane and to show the British rulers of India — “A monkey can’t make a machine!” one says — what their subjects can do.

  

Debutant director Vibhu Puri has a vision. He picks up an unexplored plot, determines to mount it big and then add on elements for worldwide appeal. But, what goes missing is depth to the theme, direction to the bigness and placement of the elements. What could well have been a tremendous story of an underdog making an airplane turns out to be a two and a half hour affair that boasts of brilliant grandeur but wanders into numerous directions while packs in too many things, quite of which seem unnecessary.

One can well sense that to begin with, the makers would have felt that this one was an heroic in the making. No wonder, crores have been spent on creating a period feel for Hawaizaada. Right from the locations to the art design to the costumes to the props to the paint on the walls, everything has been assembled brilliantly well by Puri and his team to create late 1890s. The period is set well and you are indeed transported well into the time that carries its own intrigue.

In fact you quite like the first half of the movie which has a good mix of core theme (that of building an airplane) being integrated well with the love story of Ayushmann Khurrana and Pallavi Sharda. Yes, there could have been more of the basic theme and less of the love story but still you don't mind as there scenes play themselves well. As a buildup, you do like to know more about Ayushmann's family background, his ideology when it comes to being free, his love for a nautch girl, his admiration for his mentor (Mithun Chakraborty) and his genius as somebody with brains and common sense.

  

No surprise, you are pretty much attached to him and his antics right till a very well-crafted interval point which has superb build up towards it. A magnificent background score only emphasizes the impact further and though it takes a long time to reach this point, you like what you see, though well wondering if there is much left to be told in the second half.

  

Well, this is what turns out to be a problem are actually as the movie drags, and how, in this part of the tale. What could well have been an under-two hour film, has an altogether different run of events from this point on as disloyalty, sorrow, failures and dissatisfactions make Hawaizaada an almost unattractive affair. Unexpectedly, the mood shifts to being gloomy and unlike that superb Marathi biopic Harishchandrachi Factory which had kept its momentum undamaged even in face of difficulties that its central hero faced, Hawaizaada ends up losing its direction.

So while you find Ayushmann's desperate and imprudent act a little too unexpected, his love story with Pallavi turns out cool affair too, despite them actually reuniting. His hunt for the flawless formula to run a plane gets so much extended that it turns out to be a major episode in itself. As for the climax, one would have anticipated a lot more build and euphoria. Now if only it would have carries the same energy (if not more) as the interval sequence, Hawaizaada would have finished on a good note. But it doesn't turn out to be the case.

  

While the background score of the film is as uninspired as its screenplay, the many songs are generic at best.

  

On the whole, it is praiseworthy to watch once for director’s noble effort.

Khamoshiyan is worthy to watch once for a music and little horror pleasure | Film Review

Bhatt Brothers hottest film, which does exactly what you expect: plays out familiar erotic-horror-thriller ingredients on new, or almost-new faces. And that’s the secret to keep us watching, at least some of the way, because we want to know: will this be a new face that will grow, or no?

There is no overdose of creaking doors, ghost in the mirror, girl with a lantern, screams of a bhatakti aatma, spooky sound of a laughing child - you know, the works! From that viewpoint, the buildup is sensibly okay. In fact the first appearance of a ghost is totally unanticipated and in that aspect, first time director Karan Darra gets a good tick against the box.

But, the movie is slow, and there is too much of 'khamoshi' right through the course of this two hour film. With just three and a half characters in there (if you are wondering about the half then well, it is that of an achchi aatma who basically fills in for a mumbo-jumbo tantrik that makes for a prototypical appearance in a Vikram Bhatt film). Anyhow, the focus is not on this half character but the three principal characters where again, two of them fill in the frames for most part of it.

  

Ali Fazal and Sapna Pabbi are the only faces who are truly seen in the movie and it is due to this very reason that despite the shoot in South Africa (standing in for Kashmir) and quite a few outdoor shots as well, there is a peculiar kind of claustrophobia that occupies the frames. That when a tuneful song appears after every 20-25 minutes. That when a sensual scene pops up after every 20-25 minutes.

  

Now even Murder 3 had a similar set where the movie was focused on just three characters. But, it was a thriller where one kept guessing what would come next and there were some genuine chills in place. Also, the narrative was unquestionably unique. In case of Khamoshiyan, the story continues to oscillate due to which the interest level varies as well.

For starters, it is tough to understand the motivation behind actors to behave the way they do. Any regular guy would pack his bags and move for the exit on his first encounter with the ghost. But Ali Fazal - and he doesn't even for any 'herogiri' - continues to hang on even after a chilly mid-night encounter. Then later it is pretty obvious that all is not well with the storytelling by Sapna Pabbi, what with mystery all around, and yet he hangs on. Even the girl in question makes some really dubious moves, as she narrates in her back story which just doesn't convince - well at least the starting point when she got trapped.

  

As for Gurmeet Choudhary, who makes a 'dead appearance' in his very first shot, has a restricted play in the movie and while his motives have a direction, they seem reasonably underexposed. What really makes him think the way he does? Well, these are some examples that perhaps continued on in the script but never came on screen. What does he do with the trapped souls? Well, that remains a question too.

  

Still, and as said previously, the build up to the interval point is O.K. and there are some good moments intermingled in the second half. As a matter of fact the pre-climax does play on well once Ali Fazal is all by himself to free the trapped souls. But, if only the climax would have played much more strongly, the impact would have been far better.

  

Overall, it is worthy to watch once for a music and little horror pleasure.